Yes, The traditional internal Tai Chi would help you getting rid of the hernia. First of you, are you living in the West, Montana or Alberta? You need to improve your immune system by doing the internal training. Keep in mind, most of Tai Chi out there are not internal ones. They are developed in the last few decades. It means that you won't get too much from what you've invested. Usually, the real Tai Chi turns your body from weak to strong very quickly. You can see the internal changes all the times, for instance, the symptom from hernia would disappear gradually. At the end, the body would be healed.

How do you know which school teaches the real Tai Chi? The rule of thumb is that to look at progress of all students in the school? If the students are miles away from the the instructor, there are some problems in the program. It means that great grand master is a god-like figure, then it all waters down. Each generation would get 10-20% of the previous generation. At the end, the students would get very little and have to travel around the world to look for another teacher......

A real Tai Chi would allow the students to pass his or her teacher as long as the student won't quit the program. You would see the consistency cross the board. If the instructor stop training, the students would jump in the front in a few years like a horse race......

Ask to vist the school, look at their syllabus for teaching, who the teacher studied with and go from the gut regarding choice(s). Even though the word traditional is valid, it is so overused that the word itself can be misconstrued and deceive. Something like the title "Traditional 24 Form taijiquan". It is traditional according to the Beijing Physical Culture Institiute but not per a Yang style tradition!Taijiquan can surely help but the cureing part is a different matter.

It doesn't matter where your Tai Chi comes from or what it calls as long as it works both on health and martial arts. Keep in mind, the real Tai Chi would heal your body first for all ages. The internal strength and power would come only after the body has completely healed. Otherwise, the practitioner could rely on his or her past experiences, physical power and technical skills on his/her practice. Most of time, he or she cannot survive in a real test from a different style of martial arts. His/her teaching only could work among the students.

How do we know what is real? This is a simple way to find it out:

1) All students should look very healthy, particularly, the instructor should be pain free and have very few health problems.

2) The practitioners still suffer from their sickness and diseases after training in Tai Chi for more than five years. You can forget about it because that is not a real Tai Chi!

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by WU:<B>It doesn't matter where your Tai Chi comes from or what it calls as long as it works both on health and martial arts. Keep in mind, the real Tai Chi would heal your body first for all ages. The internal strength and power would come only after the body has completely healed. Otherwise, the practitioner could rely on his or her past experiences, physical power and technical skills on his/her practice. Most of time, he or she cannot survive in a real test from a different style of martial arts. His/her teaching only could work among the students.

How do we know what is real? This is a simple way to find it out:

1) All students should look very healthy, particularly, the instructor should be pain free and have very few health problems.

2) The practitioners still suffer from their sickness and diseases after training in Tai Chi for more than five years. You can forget about it because that is not a real Tai Chi!</B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hi Mr. Wu

YOU ARE FUNNY!Thank you for the giving ...a healthy laugh!I laugh so hard I forgot what my problem was.Sorry for my Senior moment.

If anyone would think that I am funny, that's fine. I am glad to make you laugh here and remind you to enjoy my "jokes" as much as possible.

I do want to quote Chapter 41, Lao Tsu's Tao Te Ching for those who really take my words seriously:

"When a wise person hears about Tao, he gets right with it. When an ordinary person hears about Tao, he tries to get right with it, but eventually gives up. When a fool hears about Tao, he just laughs and laughs. If he didn't laugh, it wouldn't be Tao. Here's what they find so funny: The path to enlightenment seems covered in shadows. The way forward feels like taking a step back. The easiest path seems difficult. Those with the most virtue seem debased. Those who are most pure seem to be grubby and soiled. The deepest thoughts appear shallow. The greatest strength looks like weakness. What is most real strikes us as imaginary. The largest space has no boundaries. The greatest talent seems to produce nothing. The greatest voice is unhearable. The greatest beauty is invisible. Tao is hidden to us and it has no name. It is the source and the strength of all things."

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by WU:<B>If anyone would think that I am funny, that's fine. I am glad to make you laugh here and remind you to enjoy my "jokes" as much as possible.

I do want to quote Chapter 41, Lao Tsu's Tao Te Ching for those who really take my words seriously:

"When a wise person hears about Tao, he gets right with it. When an ordinary person hears about Tao, he tries to get right with it, but eventually gives up. When a fool hears about Tao, he just laughs and laughs. If he didn't laugh, it wouldn't be Tao. Here's what they find so funny: The path to enlightenment seems covered in shadows. The way forward feels like taking a step back. The easiest path seems difficult. Those with the most virtue seem debased. Those who are most pure seem to be grubby and soiled. The deepest thoughts appear shallow. The greatest strength looks like weakness. What is most real strikes us as imaginary. The largest space has no boundaries. The greatest talent seems to produce nothing. The greatest voice is unhearable. The greatest beauty is invisible. Tao is hidden to us and it has no name. It is the source and the strength of all things."

</B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Hi Mr. Wu. I laugh so hard when I read to this point on your previous post: " 2) The practitioners still suffer from their sickness and diseases after training in Tai Chi for more than five years. You can forget about it because that is not a real Tai Chi!"I thought it was a gem of humor to tell the how we experienced in our way to practice while we search for "good teacher" in Taiji and the truth is how a beginner really able to tell what is real Taiji.I've been there and done that and I wish I could have said what you post! I admire your wits and wish I have some of it and I very much appreciate it. Your previous post as a whole is telling the truth as it was and is with a very enjoyable humor and wit. Sorry you didn't intend it that way. I take you writing seriously because I had done that but your humor in writing this is a gem. I hope you don't lose it when you bring out the Tao..I can't have the same kind of hearty and healthy laugh that does good for my organs when the wise talk about the Tao.Sorry,for i am a fool that laugh when I hear the Tao. I have no wisdom of Tao that your previous post was a Tao. Sorry about that.But my thank to your wits and humor remain whole heartily the same.

Do you know or have read in the Taiji Classic when it talks about the the mistakes or incorrectness stuffs in Taiji such as 'double weight' etc., it uses the word 'sickness' instead of right or wrong? It tells us to look to the 'waist' to correct this 'sickness'. Your ' 2)sentence' has more meaning than you realize. and I thought it was your wits.

What goes up, must come down. When it's night, it will eventually become day.Even if you eat until you are full, you will eventually want more food.When you flip a coin, it will always land on one side or the other.

There's tons of wise sounding expressions that if misused are nothing but meanigless platitudes.I'm not saying anything aginst our boy Lao Tsu, not by a long shot. Loved his book, personally.His expressions are quite inspirational, insightful and brilliant even when used in context. But, just like any other type of saying, they don't mean a blasted thing and are actually quite annoying when quoted out of context by someone trying to sound overly wise by using them...

So if you're trying to say your postings are "the Tao" that a fool would laugh at them...You might want to think about that.

Thanks for your complements! Simply, I just want to tell the truth here and hope to help those who would like to know more about the real Tai Chi.

The creator of Tai Chi also had a simple thought in his mind which was to help those who really need a better health first so as lead to the next step in developing a stronger internal power. In that era, the medical care was almost nonexistent. All the practitioners must know how to train themselves to stay in top shapes as well as how to defend themselves against the environment and assailants, etc.

Internally, they must pertain the high morality with lots of compassion. The high level he has reached, the less he would talk about himself.

Sure, I love the Chinese Classics, particularly, the Treatise of Tai Chi, Tao Te Jing and other Lao Tzu's scripts. I'm very much aware of the seriousness of "Double-weighting" in Tai Chi. The only way one can get rid of that problem is to let go more of oneself. Testing is a way to prove what one has done right or not, then fix the problem in Tai Chi form practice.

Thanks for your comments! It's obvious that the theory of Tai Chi comes from that of Taoism. So it's all right to say that the real Tai Chi is similar to Tao. As a matter of fact, one can apply his/her Tai Chi to every fields of profession or aspects of life. To be honest, Tai Chi is very simple just like Tao, unfortunately, most of us would like to make it so complicated or so mystique. Some even treat it as it's coming from a foreign land or out of space.

Back to my original words, the real Tai Chi can heal the body from inside out first, the internal body would get stronger only after the body is completely healed. Then the martial art would come naturally, the body would turn into an internal structure like an iron wrapped with cotton. This usually would take about seven years of correct practice on internal training.

Why are we visiting our doctors? another words, why do we want to renovate our homes?

If you can get your own answers for above questions, you should be able to figure out that the Tai Chi you are practicing now is real or not. Say you've studied Tai Chi for three years but have seen any structural changes in your body like a better health and stronger structure, etc. It's equivalent to that you've spent fifteen thousands dollars on your house and do not see any fundamental changes after the renovation.

Wu,I think that's a matter of perspective.If you've seen no change, then I would say that is, in your words, a rip off.However, what is it worth to, oh let's say...Lower your blood pressure.Let's say that among many other ailments you have chronic high blood pressure. As part of your quest to lower that you have taken up Tai Chi Chuan. You go to one class a week for an hour. You practice for half an hour a day.After the three years, let's say you haven't felt too much in the way of "structural changes", but you have lowered your blood pressure significantly.Even if you haven't fixed too much else of what ails you...Isn't the investment worth it if you've lowered your blood pressure?

I'm happy to hear that Tai Chi Chuan, you've known, could lower the blood pressure. So do many other exercises. Please keep in mind, just getting rid of some symptoms of the blood pressure doesn't mean the problem has been solved.

Similarly, most high blood pressure drugs can control your blood pressure. The point I have tried to explain is that a real Tai Chi can cure the causes of your problems, not just a few symptoms.

The renovation I am talking about includes replacing all structural columns and beams of the house, not just patching up a bit.